Sunday, May 18, 2014

You Can Talk on the Phone All You Want!

As someone who came to Brazilian jiu jitsu with a wrestling background, I naturally gravitated (especially early on) towards pressure passing and top control. I also found myself unsurprisingly prefering chokes to joint manipulations. Ever since those early days, my go to choke has always been the head and arm triangle (also sometimes ambiguously called the side choke). Not only does this choke come naturally to grapplers with a wrestling background, but it's also a choke regularly used in mixed martial arts since the wearing of gloves doesn't hinder or impede the application of the choke. Most importantly, the arm triangle is both simple and effective. Additionally, as a further bonus, the arm triangle can be applied while on the feet, from side control, from top half guard, and even from bottom closed guard.

Given the many virtues of the arm triangle, I thought I would post several videos that each contain some really helpful details concerning the proper set ups and applications of the choke. As Dean Lister shows in the first video, the standard defense against the arm triangle--namely, "talking on the phone"--only prolongs the agony. It is unlikely to rescue you from being choked. But fear not, intrepid grapplers, as Kurt Osiander shows in the final video, you may save yourself from the arm triangle even if you've already "fucked up a long time ago" and allowed your opponent to get in the position to apply the choke.

All in all, I think both the application and the defense of the arm triangle ought to be added to every person's grappling tool kit. So, watch, learn, and go train!

p.s. One of the things I like the most about the arm triangle is that you can set it up while still in the top half guard position. However, a common mistake I find myself committing while in this position is getting too far forward--which allows one's opponent to sweep from bottom half guard. After this happened to me a few times in practice recently, some of the upper belts suggested that it's best to work on getting the pass first and then focusing on setting up and applying the choke. That's sage advice that I thought I would pass along! I, for one, will try to keep it in mind the next time I get ahead of myself in top half guard!